The opponents batting average is the most telling number, in my opinion. Hitters still havn't quite figured out these pitchers, they've just been a little erratic with their control. It's April, so I wouldn't read much into it. These pitchers will get themselves under control and be just fine.

We could make a thread similar to this one about why you shouldn't draft first-basemen based on how a lot of them have performed thus far. It's really not too relevent because it's too early to write off these pitchers, especially in a roto league.

The opponents batting average is the most telling number, in my opinion. Hitters still havn't quite figured out these pitchers, they've just been a little erratic with their control. It's April, so I wouldn't read much into it. These pitchers will get themselves under control and be just fine.

We could make a thread similar to this one about why you shouldn't draft first-basemen based on how a lot of them have performed thus far. It's really not too relevent because it's too early to write off these pitchers, especially in a roto league.

A pitcher has less control over hits allowed than over walks, so how do you figure opp baa is the most telling number?

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
-Isaac Newton

If healthy, Gagne would very likely be a stud. That still leaves 6 out of the remaining 9 as studs. Anyone want to bet against Rivera and Foulke returning to stud status by the end of the year?

No, I'm saying "dud" or "stud" is a really simplistic way of describing performance. Gonzo has been neither.

If we apply that same criteria strictly to your closers (sorry injured = big dud), we have 5 duds. And those guys went in WAY higher rounds than the MRs. How many duds are there among position players that went in mid to late rounds of drafts?

7 out of 10 of the best MRs are duds. Sure, if you take the top 3 MRs at the end of this year and compare them to the Cy Young, the overall stats will look very similar. However, finding those studs in a field of duds is extremely challenging.

While I do use MRs myself, I would recommend against relying on the strategy. Make sure you draft quality SPs and only use super late picks on MRs. In leagues where roster space is at a premium, I would avoid the MR strategy altogether.

Don't really have an opinion on that. I was just pointing out that judging those relievers or the strategy based on one month was misleading. By the end of the year all of the supposedly difficult to predict MRs had done very well.